


Happy birthday Error!

by Silveriswriting



Series: Bad guys being good guys [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 15:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18346778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silveriswriting/pseuds/Silveriswriting
Summary: It's Error's birthday and the gang wants to celebrate it.





	Happy birthday Error!

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> Error Sans by Crayon Queen (loverofpiggies on Tumblr)

Nightmare pushed Ink down harshly, his tentacles pinning the other guardian down as one sharpened end pointed right at his skull. Ink's paintbrush was long gone, having been tossed way out of reach a while ago, and while the soulless skeleton was strong, he couldn't match Nightmare's superior skill, not when he was so unused to fighting without his weapon of choice. But the dark skeleton didn't immediately crack Ink's skull open like an egg, no, instead he brought the other very close, until they were almost touching.

"I'm going to ask you a favour." Nightmare spat in Ink's face, his deep voice full of venom. "If you comply and don't ask questions, I might let you go without breaking all your limbs." 

Ink nodded to the best of his abilities, knowing that he had to if he wanted to stay in one piece. What the hell could Nightmare want that was so important?

"I want you to give me a list of the creation date of every Sans variant you know. Even the outcodes." Nightmare said, a bit quicker than before.

'What the hell?' Ink thought, but he nodded again nonetheless. 'What is he planning to do now?'

Nightmare dropped him, and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He shot Ink a glare that bored right through the other guardian. 

"Make it quick." He growled, his tentacles poised to attack. Ink gulped, and started pulling up lines of code. 

"Do you mean the day each Sans was created, or the actual birthday assigned to them?" He asked, just to be sure. Well, that and he wanted Nightmare to let something slip.

"Any one will do, paint splotch. Now get in with it, if you want to keep your ribs intact." 

Ink decided that he very much did want his ribs intact, so he started copying lines of code and collecting them separately. He searched for as many universes as he could, but intentionally left some out. Some of the smaller ones, the ones that didn't have many characters, or a consistent story. Those would be harder to rebuild if Nightmare's group figured out a way to harm the worlds through code. 'Could they do that?' Ink questioned, and shuddered at the thought. He kept on copying code.

After some time, Ink finished and handed Nightmare an enormous stack of papers. He'd printed the code lines he'd copied onto the front and back of each one, as tiny as he could. Ink was still Ink after all, and even with threats on his well-being, he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to inconvenience the other, however dangerous itay be. Nightmare snatched up the papers with a tentacle and glared at him again, before turning on his heel and leaving through a portal.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ink said to no one in particular. He was going to stay on the lookout the next few days, just in case Nightmare tried anything.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

"Fucking finally." Nightmare growled to himself, as soon as he was a few universes away from Ink. That had been stressful, to say the least. 

He looked at the papers that were clutched in his tentacle, then brought them down to eye level and organised them properly in his hands. Of course that little bastard had made the print tiny. He carefully rifled through the pages, checking for... something. He'd been watching Ink closely while the other got the data, but one never knew what harmful command might have been slipped into the lines of code.

Once he was satisfied that nothing dangerous was there, Nightmare started reading the tiny print as fast as he could. At least it was in alphabetical order. Flicking to the 'E', he read quickly, looking for one specific date. There it was! 

4-04-xxxxx/error/sans, printed in black JavaScript on the paper. But that was...

"Today! Seriously?" Nightmare exclaimed. Thank fuck they'd been prepared.

Opening a portal to the hideout and messily reorganising the stack of papers, he was already calling for Cross before the gate had fully closed behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Cross looked up from his sketchbook when he heard his name. He raced over to Nightmare and stood in font of the other excitedly, waiting for him to say something.

"So? What day is it?" He asked.

Nightmare looked at Cross all but bouncing in place. He smiled a bit, then sighed.

"Ready for a tight schedule?" He asked.

Cross frowned. "How tight?"

"His birthday is today, Cross." 

Cross grinned widely. "Well, me and Horror have had everything ready to go for like a week. So now we just have to find Error!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Nightmare stayed silent and watched realisation dawn on the other.

"Oh... Right." Cross said, his face falling. Error could be literally anywhere. And in the multiverse, anywhere was very big.

"Well, we can go look for him when he destroys something, or just find Ink and tag along until he does the work for us." Nightmare suggested. It was their best bet.

Cross smiled again, his face lighting up. "Yeah! I'll convince him to come, once everything is set up."

"So we better start soon then?" Nightmare asked. "Exactly how much did you and the others get?"

Cross looked away. "Well... a few bags of stuff? And then balloons and streamers, and a big banner of course!" He finished, counting the different items off his fingers.

"We'll start right now." Nightmare said.

~~~~~~~~~

It took them a few hours, but they got everything ready by noon. They'd set up a pillow fort in the living room, and several tables outside that were packed with food, mainly sweets. Streamers were everywhere, confetti littered the ground, and the big banner had been strung up between two trees in the back yard, displaying it's happy birthday message to everyone. Killer had somehow managed to get hold of about three seasons of Undernovela to watch later, Nightmare had cookies baking in the oven, Horror had hunted down different foods he thought Error might like, Dust had supplied helium for the balloons, and the decorations were of course Cross' idea. 

As presents, they'd prepared a big book that detailed instructions on how to crochet, and another one that had a guide for making other pieces of clothing. There was the mandatory mountain of yarn, making a neat but colourful heap on top of a bean bag that they also wanted Error to have, and several pairs of needles, each one useful for different things. Cross had made a big album that mixed drawings with pictures they'd printed out, every one showing a nice or memorable day they'd shared that year. Everything was ready, now there was only Error missing.

And as if on cue, Nightmare felt a violent uprising in negative emotions from an AU that wasn't too far away. He quickly told Cross, who promptly jumped through the portal Nightmare had made for them as soon as he was told to. 

~~~~~~~~~~

They both landed in the anti-void, and then quickly moved on to the world that supposedly was being attacked by Error now. Sure enough, one look into the dust-choked Snowdin revealed a panicking crowd of monsters, being picked off one by one as the destroyer shattered their souls with strings and bones alike. Nightmare and Cross shared a look, then jumped in to help him. The quicker this was over, the less chance there was that Ink would appear, each reasoned to himself.

Error shot them a grateful look when they appeared beside him, but didn't say anything, and the three made short work of the monsters. They dusted and frightened left and right, stabbing and slashing and chasing every last inhabitant of that timeline down. Nightmare tried to shield Error from getting any more injuries than the ones he already had, not wanting to have him in pain. He needed this to go well.

After some time, the underground was rid of all life, Frisk was held hostage in Error's strings, and Flowey was dead -- it was an effective system. Then Cross asked Error to meet them in the anti-void when he could, and both him and Nightmare went back to the endless expanse to wait for the destroyer to erase the timeline and come looking for them. It didn't take too long for this exact thing to happen, and then Nightmare left again to check that everything was going well, leaving Cross and an open portal behind.

Error looked at Cross, wondering what the odd behaviour was all about. They usually left together, why did Cross stay behind all of a sudden? The smaller skeleton didn't say anything for a bit, fidgeting nervously with the end of his scarf, before taking a deep breath and looking up at Error.

"Error?" Cross asked, a bit timidly. The other was very tall, and being covered in blood and dust made him all the more imposing.

"YeS?" The destroyer responded after a second, turning to Cross.

"Can you come with us? For today?" Cross said, gesturing to the swirling portal. It opened to a corridor, not the living room, so Error couldn't see the decorations.

"dO yoU wANt t0 teACh m3 SomEThinG nEw?" Error asked. The gang had been taking him to the hideout a lot ever since they realised he didn't even know what chess was, and teaching him tons of new things.

"Not exactly... we have a surprise!" Cross said happily.

"A suRPrisE? WhAt iS iT?"

"That's part of the fun! You can't know!" 

"UgH." Error sighed.

"So? Are you coming?" Cross prompted the taller.

"I dOn'T kNoW Cr0Ss... tHerE aRe s3veRaL neW tiMeLiNes poPpiNg uP, aND I sHouLd cL3ar tHe oLDer 0neS wHiLe inK iSn'T ouT AnD aBouT." The other sighed wearily.

"It's just for a few hours, I swear!" Cross promised.

Error made a noise of uncertainty, clearly not convinced, so Cross came a step closer and gave him his best starry eyes.

"Please?" He asked in a small voice.

Error looked down and met the other's expectant gaze for a few seconds before caving.

"oK. I'Ll gO." He sighed. 

Cross cheered and led the other towards the portal, tugging on the end of his sleeve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Cross was convincing Error, Nightmare went back inside to check that everything was just as he had left it. He found Killer and Dust hauling two bags each across the living room from the kitchen, and Horror just closing the door.

"What's all this?" Nightmare asked, puzzled.

"Oh, hey Nightmare! We got some chocolate for Error, since he likes it so much." Dust said, smiling.

"Yeah, but we had to hide it in case Cross found out, you know how he is." Killer added, setting his bags down next to the other presents with a grunt.

Horror laughed. "I also had time to make the chocolate cake while you guys were out getting Error, so that should be ready in about ten minutes." 

"Hell yes!" Dust cheered.

Nightmare shook his head with a grin, then headed outside. Every was just as he wanted, so he went looking for a first aid kit, to patch Cross and Error up when they arrived. There had been no broken bones this time, thank everything, but he'd seen patches of blood on clothes and nasty scrapes across Error's skull and arms. Those would need to be healed soon. As he set the small case down on one of the couches that made the pillow fort, he heard Dust's voice from the kitchen.

"No guys, we shouldn't yell anything. I know I'd get spooked if someone jumped at me shouting like that."

"Shit, you're right. Error wouldn't like that, he's scared of loud noises." Killer could be heard saying.

"Okay, so we just say 'Happy Birthday' when he comes in?" Horror's voice floated though the door.

Just then, Nightmare felt Error and Cross come in, and went out into the corridor to receive them. Dust, Horror and Killer piled out of the kitchen, huge grins on their faces, and followed.

Error was being reluctantly dragged along by Cross, who called to them with a smile when they came into view.

"Hey guys! Is everything ready?"

"Of course it's ready Cross." Dust responded, holding the door open behind him.

"I'm n0t sUrE wHat ThiS iS aLL aBouT." Error commented, frowning.

Cross led him inside the living room, and gestured to the pile of presents, the balloons, and the pillow fort.

"Happy birthday!!" Everyone cheered together.

Error flinched a bit. Then looked around curiously.

"It'S My biRthDAy?"

"Sure is. Here! These are for you." Killer said, picking up some yarn from the nearby pile of presents.

Error walked over, and picked up some more yarn.

"iT's... f0r mE?" He asked uncertainly.

"Of course it's for you!" Horror exclaimed. "Do you like it?" He questioned.

Error stayed silent for a moment, then smiled a tiny smile. "YeS. yES I dO." He turned to the gang, yarn still clutched in his colourful hands and grinning wider. "THanK y0u."

"I'm glad." Nightmare said. "Now, who wants cookies?" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day passed happily enough, with everyone getting cookies first before making short work of the cake. Then they went outside to enjoy the open air and relax, all the while playfully trying to get Error to eat different kinds of food. The destroyer loved every gift, and told them so with a smile.

Nightmare told of how he'd gotten hold of the exact date for the party, and Dust related some of the funnier things that had happened while getting the party ready -- many of witch involved helium. They asked Error about his week, shared their own, and when it got dark, moved inside so nobody would catch a cold.

They watched Undernovela, finishing up any snacks that might have been left over, and then cuddled into the pillow fort, curled around each other. Jackets were strewn about when their owners had gotten too warm for the extra layer, there was confetti in everyone's clothes, and they were all tired. Killer's throat was sore from singing happy birthday over and over while laughing because he'd inhaled some of the leftover helium for fun, Horror's stomach hurt from all the food, and the rest were just the usual exhausted after the stress of setting up a party and then attending it right after that -- Nightmare, Cross and Error even more so since they'd had time for a fight that day as well.

All in all, everyone was happy with falling asleep where they sat, resting against a shoulder or leaning into another warm body that lay beside them, silly smiles on their tired faces. Even Error slept that night, Horror's face pressed against his shoulder as he snored softly.

It truly had been an amazing birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it. Have a nice day!
> 
> Happy birthday to everyone's favourite glitch lord.
> 
> (Also, friendly reminder that ao3 is doing donations, so if you can contribute anything, please do!)


End file.
